A Certain Alternative Ending
by ThundersBird
Summary: A short story involving a what if ending/scenario for the series. Extremely short, not even worth your time if you consider your time precious. An aspect of Index and Touma's past comes back to unexpectedly bite them.


The white metallic door burst open with a crash with the rushed arrival of two individuals. The two individuals were Stiyl Magnus and Kaori Kanzaki, two Necessarius Magicians and from their expressions they were here for a very important reason.

The two scanned the expansive yet oddly empty waiting room to find an high school aged boy sitting on a seat in the corner of the room. The boy could be said to look like any other high school boy with his average looks and non-offensive student attire. The only distinct features were his spiky hair and the condition that the rest of his body was in. The boy's clothes had scratches, tears, holes and other forms of damage that clearly showed he was in some form of confrontation. Thankfully the boy's body was in a much better condition, the boy had superficial damage, general scratches and bruises. Minor wounds and damages that would not warrant resting in a hospital bed, instead he was here inside a hospital waiting room.

The boy was leading forward with his head down and his face obscured due to the shadows from the environment covering his face. The boy did not get up from his seat and greet him like he would on a normal day, instead he continued to stare at the ground. Seeing his crestfallen appearance, the two magicians' worries were confirmed. The reason for their visit was just as serious as what they were told by the boy.

Stiyl started forward toward the boy. The boy hearing his footsteps, slightly raised his head only to have his body be jerked upward and slammed against the wall.

They were both standing up now, and Stiyl was furiously glaring at Kamijou Touma's downcast eyes while clutching his shirt.

Kanzaki took a few footsteps toward the two hoping to deescalate the situation, but Kamijou glanced at her and shook his head.

Stiyl continued to furiously stare at Kamijou's eyes before he spoke.

"You're the cause of this Kamijou! I thought you were supposed to always protect her from harm!"

There was no change in Kamijou's crestfallen expression but he spoke. "There's no one to blame but myself."

In an effort to defuse the tension, Kanzaki raised a question. "How did it happen?"

Stiyl lowered his hands, allowing Touma to stand on his own feet. "You remember when we all defeated Laura Stuart a few hours back right? After the plane ride back, we got in the apartment and went to sleep." Touma began.

"-but then in the middle of the night Index's John Pen mode had suddenly activated out of nowhere." Kamijou continue, his lips moved on their own without feeling, almost like reciting a distant story. "I guess it must've been some form of delayed magical countermeasure that Laura Stuart had after she was beaten. Anyway, it was self-destructive and tried to kill both me and herself. "

"Why didn't you call us right after it happened?! Putting her in this scientific abomination would've done nothing to help her!" Stiyl yelled in an outburst.

"Right after… it had happened…I didn't know what to do, so I had just carried her to the first place I had thought of. "Touma stumbled out clearly feeling distressed.

"So I just picked her up, left Othi-chan and Sphinx somewhere intact, and ran to the first place I had thought-"

Footsteps interrupted his thoughts. He turned toward the entrance to find an all too familiar face. His favorite and only doctor, Heaven Canceller.

Kamijou listened to Heaven Canceller talk all the while already knowing what he was going to say.

When Heaven Canceller gave him the go to, he took the chance and started walking toward the room.

He noted how Stiyl attempted to follow but stopped after a sign from Kanzaki. Kamijou ignored that and started walking at a fast pace toward his destination.

He felt like his feet were weighed down by weights but he continued on and quickly managed to get to the room.

He might've found it funny on any other day of the letters of his last name found on the door in which she would be in. He quickly gathered his wits and slammed open the door.

He saw a silver-haired girl siting up from the hospital bed and staring at him clearly startled. Noting that her signature habit was replaced with a hospital gown, he observed her body for any damage. No bandages, no cuts, no bruises. There appeared to be no physical damages and the girl looked to be okay-albeit a little surprised at the sudden intrusion. Kamijou sighed in relief.

Thank goodness she was alright.

He was about to smile and walk forward when he was interrupted.

"Excuse me…", the started girl began. She titled her head in puzzlement.

"I think you may have the wrong room."

Her words carried a very polite tone, but they were mingled with suspicion and slight alarm as she tried to figure out what was going on. A voice reserved for when talking to complete strangers.

"The exact same case of 'memory destruction'."

The words of the doctor rumbled through his head.

Imagine Breaker can't bring back what is already gone.

Touma stopped breathing and his gaze fell to the floor.

He had tried his hardest, he really had almost thought that he would've reached a happy conclusion.

But then there were those white feathers…

There was so many, too many and-

"What's wrong? Does your stomach hurt?" she asked in a concerned voice.

They were like the words in a certain world, but these words were painstakingly real. Like in that world, he guessed he was making a very strange face.

Touma looked up and formed a smile.

He quietly clenched his right fist while he was standing.

"It's nothing. I'm fine." He tried to reassure her. He didn't want to make her worry when she was the one who suffered.

"U-um are you sure you are all right? You look like you're in a lot of pain."

She really was compassionate at times; he was depressed that he couldn't do a thing to fix her. There was no way he could undo her damage, after all he suffered the exact same way. This poor young girl had just woken up with no memories in a foreign location, he let this happen to her which must be why he's feeling so awful…

"No, I'm alright." Touma said trying to hide his feelings behind a smile. No that wasn't it, even though it's selfish…

The transparent young girl studied Touma's face in a curious manner.

"Hmm, could it be that we know each other?"

"Uhh" Touma stumbled out unable to properly think of a reply due to the emotion. Even though its selfish…he's mainly sad for his own sake. He felt disgusted at his own weakness.

He managed to get a hold of himself in order to ask a question. He knew it was selfish but he just had to ask.

"Hey Index, do you remember? When we first met in this very same hospital room?"

"Huh? I don't quite understand, Is Index someone's name?" She replied confused.

This horrible sense of loss…

"Index, you don't remember Sphinx?" Touma continued for some odd reason.

Why was he doing this?

"Sphinx? You mean the mythological creature of Egypt that had the body of a lion and a human head?"

He wasn't dumb, he knew how tragically ironic this was.

He tried raising the mood." Index…you don't remember the mighty adventures of Index and Touma fighting magicians and getting into mischief?"

"Who's Touma?"

His mouth stopped moving.

This wasn't fair. This familiar situation.

The last sanctuary destroyed. He let his smile slip.

He didn't know whether he spoke this next phrase aloud or only thought it.

You… really don't remember how much I loved you?

I saw this idea while browsing /a/ so I decided to write a story about it. I figured this was a nice idea to test my writing skills. If you have any tips or constructive criticism, I'd be glad to hear them. If you like this concept and think you can write it pretty well, I'll encourage you to do so.


End file.
